Record-breaking pre-season tourism in Istria

Rovinj

Pre-season tourism on Croatia’s Istrian peninsula has been the best in history.

There were half a million more overnight stays this May than last year, which will significantly impact the good pre-season results for the Peninsula, Jutarnji list reported.

“May this year was a historic record in the fullest sense of the word. We had 550,000 arrivals and 2.6 million overnight stays. The index for arrivals was 118, and for overnight stays, an impressive 126. Overall, there were 530,000 more overnight stays compared to last May. This result certainly influenced the total figures for the first five months,” said Denis Ivošević, director of the Istria Tourist Board.

In the first five months, Istria recorded 1.04 million arrivals and 4.2 million overnight stays, which is 9% more arrivals and 13% more overnight stays compared to the same period last year.

Hotels saw a 7% improvement, while campsites and private accommodations each saw an 18% increase.

Pula Arena

Germans were the most numerous, with 1.4 million overnight stays, accounting for a third of the total, with a 26% increase in traffic. Austrians recorded 652,000 overnight stays, up 7%, while Slovenians had 580,000 overnight stays, with a 10% increase in traffic.

They are followed by Croats, Italians, Poles, and Serbs.

“The reason for such good results is certainly the altered holiday schedule. This year, Easter was at the end of March, while last year it was in April. Pentecost was in May this year, while last year it was in June. This created a timing imbalance. From this, we can infer that June will not be the best, as seen in the first few days, but from July 1st, everything will return to the usual rhythm,” concluded Ivošević.